A Little Bit Brighter
by jesuisl0ser
Summary: Collins is very bored at work until a certain person shows up. AC fluff...wrote this a long time ago...rated T because anything RENT should be rated T


**A/N: I wrote this a long time ago when I was bored and ended up posting it on the LJ community illcoveryou...I just never thought to post it until now. Here ya go!**

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"All right," Professor Tom Collins' voice echoed through the large classroom, "The amount of you who actually thought something along the lines of 'Maybe I should get up off my lazy ass and do this assignment' throughout this week was apparently few."

He collected the small amount of essays that were supposed to have been handed in that day.

"I gave you an even more reasonable amount of time to do this than I should have..." He paused, glancing at a group of three chattering, giggling girls and waited for them to turn towards him in embarrassment like they always did after realizing that they had been distracting the class.

"..And yet you people decide you're just gonna blow the assignment off no matter how much time you got." Collins looked around the room at some of the students staring back at him with guilty looks on their faces.

"I'm giving those who haven't completed the assignment one more chance. You don't show up with it next class, you'll be doing it here after school. Understood?" He said. Some grumbles of "Yes," and "Yeah," and even "Whatever" was what he received as a reply. Sighing, Collins gestured towards the chalkboard. "Copy down these terms. And I mean it. I wasted my time writing the whole thing on the board, take some of the time out of your _oh-so_ busy lives and copy it down."

He sat down at his desk and began correcting some papers. After a few minutes he abruptly looked up at a student who was shooting paper out of a straw at other students in the room. All Collins had to do was glare at the student and he quickly put the straw away and went back to copying from the board.

Collins was definitely in no mood for fun and games. He knew that his students wanted to be here just as much as he did—truth be told, he would much rather be at home with Angel than be at school grading failing papers for hours. Glancing out the window, he noticed it even looked like it was going to rain.

And all of this made Tom Collins in an extremely bad mood.

Until, that is, a certain person walked in who somehow made the dark and dreary room a whole lot brighter. The door slowly opened and in walked Angel, all dolled up in a brightly colored outfit and usual black shoulder-length wig. Collins sat upright in his chair.

"...Ang...?" He said quietly.

Angel sashayed into the room, squealing, "Hi, Callins!"

How he loved the way she said his name.

"Um...Angel, baby, what are you...doing here?" he whispered, standing up so that he was looking right into her eyes.

"I miss you when you're not home,"she whined loudly. He stared at her with a dazed expression on his face, and then blushed, prompting his students to laugh. He glared at them.

"Ain't you people supposed to be copying what I wrote on the board?"

"Professor, most of us have been done with that, for, like, ever," remarked a girl in the back of the room.

"Then keep your mouths shut and read a novel or something," Collins replied flatly.

"Oh, isn't that kind of mean, honey?" Angel interjected. More giggling from the class.

Collins smiled and looked up at his class. "In case you all haven't figured this out by now, this is Angel. All of you should know who she is considering I tend to talk about her non stop."

Angel waved and smiled brightly. "Hi!"

"I like your skirt. Where'd you get it?" said a girl in the front row. Angel twirled around in her blue and purple skirt and cried, "Thank you! I made it." Some of the students in the class were examining Angel's outfit, while some others were staring in utter confusion, and then there were the few who were frowning in disgust about the fact that _she_ was a _he_.

"Do you make a lot of outfits like that?" asked a boy with red hair.

"Yup!" Angel chirped, "And when I make a new one, I try to show it off as much as possible before your professor over there comes home from work and decides he wants to take it off—"

"ANGEL!" Collins cried, cutting her off. He was blushing violently at this point and the class was letting out hoots of laughter. Students were burying their faces into their sleeves and covering their mouths to keep from laughing hysterically.

Angel looked towards the class and gave a nod in Collins' direction. "He's adorable when he blushes, isn't he?"

"_Angel_!"

Angel blinked up at him innocently. "What?"

Sighing, he took her hand and began to pull her out of the room. He glanced towards his class. "Try to control your immature selves while I'm out of the room, you hear?" With that, he led Angel out the door and into the hallway.

"I'm sorry, honey, did I embarrass you?" Angel asked. Collins sighed. Of course he'd been embarrassed, but he didn't want to tell Angel that, afraid that he would hurt her feelings. When Collins didn't answer, Angel decided to change the subject.

"I figured that maybe you'd want some company considering you've been complaining a lot this week about how boring it's been here. So I came. But I guess you don't want me here..." she said quietly, looking down at the floor.

Collins quickly pulled Angel into an embrace. "Angel, you know that's not true at all! I was just kind of...surprised, you know?" She still wouldn't look up. "Angel, please, baby..."

Angel sniffed and looked up at him. "Should I leave?"

"You can stay as long as you want," Collins replied. Angel thought for a moment.

"Actually, Callins, I was going to get some materials to make a new outfit anyway. So I guess I'll go."

Collins blinked. "You mean...after all that, you're leaving?"

Angel smiled. "Yup." She gave him a kiss. "I'll see you tonight! Love ya!" And with that, she skipped away. Collins smiled, shaking his head as she headed down the hallway.

Heading back into the classroom, he saw his students laughing just as they had been when he and Angel had left.

"Knock it off, will you?" Collins said flatly. He waited until the laughter died out, which took a fairly long time.

"So that's the Angel you always talk about..." remarked one student.

"I like her!" said another.

Collins smirked. "I like her too." He paused, sitting down at his desk. "In fact, I love her."

"Yeah, someone would have to be real stupid not to notice that," said the redheaded boy.

"No shit. Now get back to work."

He looked around once more. The room truly did seem brighter...

...Or maybe it was just his imagination.


End file.
